Waymo faces flak after robotaxi kills California cat: Report

Waymo is going through flak after one in every of its robotaxis ran over a California cat named KitKat in late October, reported The San Francisco Standard, with Waymo acknowledging there was an incident involving a cat.

Alphabet’s self-driving unit Waymo confirmed to the outlet {that a} small cat ran underneath its automobile because it was pulling away.

However, an nameless grievance alleged that the Waymo automobile didn’t decelerate or attempt to keep away from the cat. It additionally raised doubts about Waymo autos’ means to detect animals at nighttime.

Waymo confirmed an incident and mentioned it might make a donation to an animal rights organisation, per The San Francisco Standard.

KitKat, a gray striped cat with pale inexperienced eyes who wore a bell round his neck, was a casual “mascot” cherished by consumers and locals alike. A roadside memorial has since been put collectively for him, with flowers, pictures, and KitKat goodies.

“We’re heartbroken to share that our beloved retailer cat, KitKat, has handed away. He introduced heat, smiles, and luxury to everybody who walked via our doorways. Thank you to all who cherished him as a lot as we did. The retailer received’t be the identical with out his little paws padding round,” posted the Randa’s Market on Instagram final week, together with a photograph of KitKat.

This isn’t the primary time an animal has been killed by an autonomous automobile. A Waymo robotaxi within the autonomous mode killed a canine in California in 2023, reported tech outlet Tech Crunch.

On X (previously Twitter), Elon Musk appeared to reference the incident and defend autonomous autos when he posted, “True, many pets can be saved by autonomy” on October 31. He was re-tweeting a submit claiming that over 5 million cats had been hit by vehicles yearly within the U.S.